The vapid news feeds on the banner always give reasonable indication of what's on our minds when less than completely occupied.   It is the "Oh, look! Something shiny!" component of our daily lives once served by Man Bites Dog headlines in newsprint.  (Shirley you remember newsprint?)… Read full post »

Seems to me I am on day three of the latest effort to give up cigarettes, with the first 72 hours allegedly being the hardest.  It has been a torrid love affair with the devil stick started in my mid teens by a long time friend who gave up the dastardly… Read full post »

Ever wonder why Friday the 13^th is bad luck?  We all did it.  I remember that as a kid, and actually do double takes on this date, wondering how Karma might dope slap me. 

I don’t lie in bed with the covers over my head wetting myself, mind you, but… Read full post »

Parties ax handled in presidential elections with coattails into the house and senate have to undergo what in business parlance and pyschobabble parlance is second order change.  The old rules do not work, so they have to redo the entire playbook.  The same goes for the democrats, frankly,… Read full post »

Halloween generally brings back fond memories.  This year triggered all sorts of them.  My older kids toured the community in which I live largely via car as we went from neighborhood to neighborhood having a few yuks with friends.  

My youngest, 11, experienced Halloween in a very rur… Read full post »

Traditional information distribution industries undergo an economic transformation with incredible hidden costs to the consumers.  Newspapers crumble as that for which they charged in hardcopy gets distributed electronically for considerably less, if for anything at all.  Consumers see the… Read full post »

I created a twitter account today.  Seems odd to establish a mechanism by which people can absorb my errant thoughts.  Errant thoughts I equate to sounds that might be made from a BB rattling around in a tuna fish can.  Every once in a while the BB-sized idea gets moving and… Read full post »

A year long effort at losing weight through exercise, food moderation, and, well, smoking again, has yielded great results.  The results have been so good, a few people who have not seen me in a while have looked at me with rather alarmed looks and asked me if I am sick.… Read full post »

Local talk radio in Massachusetts prattles on in the background about the decision by the Board of Selectman in Amherst, Massachusetts put a resolution onto their Special Town Meeting to invite two Guantanamo Bay detainees into their community.

It is not cast in stone, as the Town Meeting has to vote… Read full post »

I managed to catch the tail end of the Denver/San Diego Monday night game given my new found curiosity in the Denver Broncos.  I flicked it on with about 6 minutes to go in the fourth quarter with Denver ahead 27 to 23 and with San Diego driving.

On the Denver… Read full post »

I am admittedly confused by Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace prize so soon in his administration when so little has changed other than our rhetoric.  Iraq wages on.  Afghanistan is playing out like the movie Groundhog Day only the role of Bill Murray, previously played by the USS… Read full post »

The show has telegraphed for a while that it is 1963 and the wedding of Sterling's daughter the day after the JFK assassination was laid out early in the season.

 This week had little to do with the office and lots to do with relationships, being set in the dog days… Read full post »

My 11 year-old daughter, my late in life baby and only girl out of four, has her first school-run dance tonight.  I hope she will be able to hear the music over the whirring of the helicopter parents chaperoning said dance, but I know she will be safe in the community… Read full post »

The recent announcement that auto industry magnate Roger Penske was backing off an agreement to buy the Saturn brand from GM puzzles me.  It had me wondering about plant capacity utilization (Look at Federal Reserve data here and go to page 11.) as well as Saturn market share… Read full post »

The bike seat has to be one of the more painful devices known to MAN.  A skinny little thing on which you place all your weight and the point at which you place all your weight happens to be a part of the male anatomy on which many men place all… Read full post »

An annual Harris Poll of 2,681 US adults listed the following top 15 favorite TV dads:

1. Cliff Huxtable of "The Cosby Show"

2. Ward Cleaver of "Leave It to Beaver"

3. Jim Anderson of "Father Knows Best"

4. Andy Taylor of "The Andy Griffith Show"

5. Ozzie Nelson of "The… Read full post »

Ever have one of those senior moments?  You know, looking for sunglasses on top of your head?  Or how about looking for keys whose ring is slipped around your finger and jingling unheard as if to say, "Hey, MORON, we're right here!"

I misplaced a certified letter notification.  In a ne… Read full post »

Economists have long looked at housing starts -- or the number of new homes being constructed -- as an early indicator of the way in which the economy is headed.  Home building sucks in lots of different products and services.  Carpenters, obviously, but then earth movers who may or may not… Read full post »

Yesterday I put up a humorous hit piece on Lady Gaga based on wardrobe and her desire to walk down the runway at the MTV Music Awards with a "jungle animal" on a leash here.  That post received a much coveted EP around these parts and generated some interesting comments.

Several folks… Read full post »

The on-line news features did it to me again.  An article titled “You Won’t Believe What Lady Gaga Wore” got me to click on the link.  Who needs to worry about health care matters when some C list wannabee comes up with some odd costume to garner the attention her singing… Read full post »

Owning New England Patriots’ season tickets since 1993, I try to avoid going to night games as much as possible.  The crowd is drunker and rowdier, and I do not usually get home until 2:30 am.  Sober or otherwise, it’s not a lot of fun.  With a season ticket waiting list… Read full post »

Desperate for exercise, the weather is not cooperating.  Mid 40s and drizzly.  But I want to get out on the water and kayak.  Put on the iPod and pound away in the dark of night.  Bored with the 25 song play list, I decide to simply put the iPod on shuffle… Read full post »

I sat in my office over the garage listening to Don Imus with my employee.  My oldest son, then 13, was home sick from school.

Imus made mention of a plane flying into a World Trade Center Tower.  He thought it was a small airplane at first.  

After a few… Read full post »

Optometrists swear they can guess a person's age within a few years based on their eye exams.  It's one of the more grizzly elements of life's inexorable march.

I still have 20-10 vision far away, but put a newspaper 6 inches from my rather large, roman nose, and I can… Read full post »

Based on subject matter, I am all for Barack Obama addressing the schools.  It’s akin to FDR fireside chats provided the subject matter remains appropriate, and his message more than meets that filter.

He’s a black man raised by a single mom.  Hard enough, he had the further dif… Read full post »